Reinforced earth construction technology is well developed and established in the construction field. This technology involves reinforcing earth, which becomes a cohesive material of great strength and stability, by the association of granular soil and reinforcements. Through friction, tensile stresses are transferred to the reinforcements, improving the mechanical properties of the soil. A facing, usually of interlocking suitable panels, provides an aesthetically pleasing finish and serves as an anchor for the reinforcing elements. Such reinforced earth provides a coherent gravity mass that can be engineered for a variety of load bearing requirements The reinforced earth mass has also been used for retaining walls and bridge abutments on highway projects, as well as other civil engineering requirements, such as sea walls, dams and bulk storage facilities. Israel Patent No. 21009 disclosed the characteristic methods of calculating and applying reinforced earth as a construction technique. Specifically a reinforced earth structure comprises a mass of particles normally extracted from the natural ground and reinforcing straps embedded in the mass, said reinforcing straps providing frictional contact with the grains or particles. These reinforcements ensure that the structure is stable. The free vertical surface of the reinforced structure is faced with cladding or skin for retaining the particles which are located in the vicinity of the said free surface and which are therefore not subject to the frictional retaining effect of the reinforcing straps. The above mentioned patent discloses cladding consisting of U-section elements in superimposed relation, having adjacent flanges of elements in contact with one another.
Israel Patent No. 35046 discloses cladding elements in the form of a plate or slab comprising means for fixing the cladding elements to the ends of the reinforcing straps, the slabs having edge portions which allow a relative displacement between adjacent slabs and a seal for preventing earth particles from passing between adjacent slabs.
Israel Patent No. 50515 discloses a specific type of reinforcing strap having traverse ribs extending over the full length of the strip to provide better friction with earth and improve the reinforcement for structures of reinforced earth. Today slabs of the type disclosed in Israel Patent 35046 are the most common cladding for reinforced earth structures. These slab claddings are usually arranged in an interlocking manner with the edges of one slab engaging those of the adjacent slab in tongue and groove arrangement. Reinforced earth can thus be prepared with a vertical end surface of 20 meters and more, having a cladding or facing of concrete slabs layered one upon the other to the very top of the structure, each concrete slab providing a barrier for lateral displacement of the ground adjacent to it, to which it is anchored by reinforcing straps.